


adoption

by laurenjauregui



Series: you make me sick (for being so perfect) // adoption [1]
Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: Other, autistic!lauren, barely a ymms draft tbh but whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 10:56:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10638432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurenjauregui/pseuds/laurenjauregui
Summary: Mike and Clara Jauregui, unable to have kids, try adoption instead.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not even a draft, just an idea that sparked and I had to get it out of my system. Figured I'd post it in the drafts series. Not really much Camren in this, it's pretty much just fetus Lauren getting adopted by Clara and Mike.

When Mike and Clara Jauregui find out that they’re unable to have children, they decide to go with adoption. At first, they look for a baby – the idea of raising a child from babyhood is the thing most appealing for Clara – but after years of waiting, they decide to look into adopting an older child, and giving someone who needs it a loving home.

Looking through the files the adoption agency had given them, at first they’re set on either a little boy named Chris, or a girl called Taylor. They can only afford to take one child in at the moment, and while Clara wants to take them all in and give them a loving home, she knows she can’t.

They’ve been talking things over for months, looking through all of the files, and when they think they’ve finally made a decision, the lady from the adoption agency emails Clara another file. As Clara and Mike had said they wanted to give a child who really needs it a loving home, the woman from the agency adds in her email that it may be a good fit.

 _Not many people have shown interest in her_ , the email adds _, but she’s one of the sweetest little girls I’ve ever met._

Curious, Clara waits until Mike gets home, and they look through the information together.

_Lauren, aged five. Date of birth: 27/06/1996._

_Lauren has been in the system for nine months, and was found in her biological parents’ house, severely malnourished and with several injuries. After coming to us, Lauren was diagnosed with autism. She has limited speech and is very shy, but is incredibly loving once she gets over the initial apprehension of meeting people, doesn’t like being touched and needs a forever home rather than a foster one. Will need a lot of patience initially as she is so shy and apprehensive around new people._

Included with the file is a photograph of a tiny little girl – she looks more like a toddler than a five year old – with big, haunted green eyes. Instead of being lit up and happy, they’re dull. Almost grey. Clara can see how sad this little girl is from one look at a photo.

After long conversations, Clara and Mike finally come to a decision. They’re going to adopt Lauren.

-

A few weeks later, and Clara and Mike get a call, saying that they’ve been selected for Lauren, and if they are available, they can come and meet her in a week and see if the placement is really right.

(On the phone, they’re also told not to say anything that would imply to Lauren they’re adopting her. One family had met her, mentioned that she might be going home with them, and she’d gotten so excited that she’d packed up all of her things, only to find out that the family had pulled out after the meeting and decided to adopt a different child.)

When the day of the meeting arrives, they’re ushered into a room in the agency that looks a little too formal for a meeting with a kid, but when their agency worker comes into the room with shy, tiny little Lauren following her, they don’t mind much.

It’s supervised, and Lauren won’t look up at them, her eyes trained on a small, tattered stuffed lion on her lap.

Wanting to make it feel more natural, Clara smiles at Lauren, trying to make eye contact. “It’s nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

“Lauren,” The girl answers. It comes out more like _‘Lo-wen’,_ and Clara smiles in response.

“That’s a lovely name,” Clara answers, “I’m Clara Jauregui, and this is my husband, Mike.”

Lauren follows her gaze, but directs it back at her feet when Mike makes eye contact with her. She seems a little overwhelmed by the attention.

Mike points at the tattered lion in the girl’s arms. “What’s your lion called?”

“Nala,” Lauren answers, and Clara recognises the name from _The Lion King_. The lion the girl has is not a Disney one – it doesn’t even _look_ like the actual Nala, and it’s only about five inches tall. “’ot mine.”

“It’s not yours?” Clara asks, and Lauren nods in confirmation. “Who’s is it?”

“Home’s,” Lauren mumbles again, but stares down at the toy. “’ike lions.”

Mike smiles at her. “Lions are great. One time, we went to a zoo, and they had a huge lion there. It was called Simba.”

Lauren smiles, but it doesn’t meet those sad green eyes. “Lions- um, _p’witty_.”

Clara laughs a little. “You wouldn’t want to cuddle a real one, though.”

“Want ‘eal one,” Lauren answers, “at ‘oo.”

“You want to go see a real one at the zoo?” Mike asks her, and Lauren nods, her tiny fingers drumming against the table. “Well, they’re really big, but they sleep a lot. They actually-”

“T’en-ty hours,” Lauren interrupts, before realising what she’d done and turning her gaze back to her lap. “I _sowwy_.”

Clara stares at her. “What do they do for twenty hours?”

Lauren looks up, unsure. “S’eep.”

“Wow,” Mike sends Lauren a big smile, “you’re really smart, if you knew that. I didn’t know that until you just told me.”

Lauren bounces on her chair, “ _Dey- dey_ \- um, ‘ave cubs!”

“I didn’t know that,” Clara says, even though she did, “you’re very clever, Lauren.”

This time, Lauren’s smile is so wide and so happy that the brightness reaches those wide green eyes. “’es. ‘ike lions.”

-

The next time they meet up with Lauren, certain that she’s the child for them, they bring her a present. Since their agency worker had explained that the toy lion Lauren likes so much belonged to the orphanage, and how she had to share it with others and got upset about it, they make a quick trip to the Disney store on the way to their second visit.

When Lauren sees them, she smiles shyly, the lion not in her hands this time. So, Clara holds out the gift bag with a smile. “We got you a present, Lauren.”

Lauren looks at the bag with eyes as wide as saucers. “’or- ’or me?”

“For you,” Mike confirms, “we think you’ll like it a lot.”

“No ‘ad one ‘fore,” Lauren mumbles, still not taking the present, “um- tank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Clara says, “open it up.”

Lauren digs her hands into the gift bag, rummaging through the wrapping paper. When she pulls out the big stuffed Nala, her eyes widen, and she starts sniffling. “’eally ‘ine?”

“It’s really yours,” Mike assures her, “don’t cry, Lauren. It’s a nice present, not something to cry about.”

Lauren wipes at her eyes and pulls the new stuffed animal close to her chest. “No’ody _ewse_ touch. ‘ine. Tank you, ‘ister ‘ike, ‘issus C’ara.”

Clara smiles, “You don’t need to call us mister and missus, Lauren. Just Mike and Clara is fine.”

“’kay,” Lauren mumbles, snuggling the new Nala against her face, “Nala. ‘ove Nala.”

“We thought you’d like her,” Mike says, “we were in town the other day, and we spotted her in the shop and thought of you.”

(They don’t mention how they drove miles out of their way to get it.)

Lauren pets the stuffed lion on the head. “Me ‘ove her.”

-

After a few more visits with Lauren, and the little girl slowly opening up to them more, they get a placement date. They wait until their next and final visit with Lauren – the day of the placement – to tell her that she’s coming home with them.

“Hallo,” Lauren smiles shyly when they meet her, her Nala held tightly in her arms. They haven’t seen her without it since they’d given it to her. “Hallo, ‘ike and C’ara.”

Clara smiles down at her. “We have another surprise for you.”

Lauren blinks at her. “’or me?”

“Yes,” Mike tells her, “you’re coming home with us today.”

Lauren stares. “I go ‘ith you?”

“Yes,” Clara kneels down to Lauren’s height. “Would you like that? Would you like to come and live with us?”

Lauren lets out an excited squeal and nods, clapping her hands in patterns of three. “’es! ‘es, p’ease!”

Mike catches the eye of the social worker who’d been looking after Lauren and supervising their meetings, and she pulls the little girl’s small suitcase, packed with her few belongings, into view.

“Are you excited to go home with the Jaureguis, Lauren?” The social worker, Britt asks. The tiny girl bobs her head quickly. “I’ve got all of your things here.”

Lauren stares at the suitcase. “I go- go ‘tay? ‘tay f’ever?”

“Yes, Lauren,” Clara replies, “you can stay with us forever if you’d like.”

Lauren sniffles, and starts to cry. Clara, knowing that Lauren doesn’t like being touched from her file, passes her a tissue, and the little girl wipes at her eyes.

Mike looks down at her. “Don’t cry, Lauren. It’s a happy day.”

After Mike takes Lauren’s suitcase, they lead her to their car, Clara gently strapping Lauren into the car seat in the back. Lauren kicks her legs out, since they don’t hit the ground, and Clara smiles fondly.

When the car starts, Lauren pets her Nala, finding it hard to believe that these people, who seem perfect to her, want her to be a part of their family.

The car ride is long, and Lauren doesn’t like it, because she’s really excited to see Clara and Mike’s house. She wonders if it’s big, like her old house was. That house had lots of rooms, but Lauren wasn’t allowed in most of them. She was left in the basement a lot.

(She wonders if Clara and Mike will make her sleep in there, too.)

When they finally pull up outside of a regular looking house, Clara unbuckles her seatbelt for her. “Look, Lauren. You’re home.”

Lauren stares up at the house in amazement. “’ome.”

Mike pulls her suitcase up the driveway for her, and offers to carry Nala, but Lauren shakes her head. Nobody is allowed to touch Nala. Nala is the first thing that’s ever really been _hers_ , aside from the few sets of clothes the people at the orphanage gave her. Nala is _her_ thing. It’s the first toy she’s ever been given, and she loves her so much.

When they walk inside, but Lauren is still looking back at the big front lawn. Maybe Mike and Clara will let her play out there.

“So,” Clara says as Mike takes her suitcase somewhere, “what do you want to see first?”

Lauren hums in thought, wanting to see outside. Maybe they have a big back garden, too. One of the girls at her old preschool had a swing set in her back yard. She hopes Mike and Clara will have one of those, as well.

As Clara leads her outside, Lauren frowns, because they don’t have a swing set, but they _do_ have a pool.

“Can you swim, Lauren?” Clara asks, and Lauren shakes her head. “Well, I can teach you, if you want. Then you can play in the pool.”

Lauren bobs her head in reply. She’d like Clara to teach her that. “’es.”

Clara ushers her back inside, and shows Lauren the lounge. They have a really big TV, and the couch looks incredibly comfy, to Lauren’s dismay. The couch at her old house wasn’t that comfy, but she didn’t mind, because she knows she has to sit on the floor. It’ll be a lot harder with something a lot more comfortable there to tempt her, but she’ll be good, so Clara and Mike don’t hit her.

After showing her the lounge, Clara takes her through into a different room. There are DVDs on the shelves, and books lined across the wall. There’s a small couch, but a big desk and two chairs for it, as well as two laptops sitting dormant. “This is mine and Mike’s office. Normally kids aren’t allowed, like when my friends bring their children over, but you can come in here to get a DVD or a book. You just have to tell me or Mike where you’re going.”

Lauren nods, memorising the rule. As long as she follows the rules, she won’t get hurt.

After the office, Clara points her in the direction of the door. “That’s the bathroom that everyone uses. There’s a lock on the door, but I don’t want you to lock doors in case you fall or hit your head. We wouldn’t be able to get to you if you locked the door.”

Lauren stiffens, because her main defence is gone. Back at her old house, when her parents got mad at her, she would hide in the bathroom and lock the door until they got bored and went out. What will she do if Clara and Mike get angry?

But she nods, because she has to follow the rules.

“In here is the kitchen,” Clara says, walking through the lounge again, and after pointing to another closed door and telling her it’s the laundry room, they go into the kitchen. “You need to ask if you want a snack, but as long as it’s not too close to mealtimes, we’ll probably allow it. There’s a water dispenser on the refrigerator – you can get a drink when you need one, just tell me or Mike and we’ll get you one of the special cups we bought for you.”

Lauren blinks. They’d bought her another present? She hadn’t expected them to buy her anything other than Nala. Wasn’t coming to live with them present enough?

Clara gets the cups down from a shelf, and Lauren gasps when she sees them. “Nala!”

Clara smiles. “We thought you’d like them. This one has Simba on it, see?”

Lauren stares at the cups in awe. She hadn’t expected they’d have _Nala_ on them! “Tank you, C’ara.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” Clara tells her, “You’re so polite.”

Lauren anxiously plays with Nala’s tail. It’s the rules to say thank you when someone gives you something. When her parents would give her her meal for the day, she always said thank you. If she forgot, she got a beating.

While Clara is putting away Lauren’s special cups, Mike re-joins them. “I’ve put her things away. How far are you with the grand tour of the house, Lauren?”

Lauren rocks on her heels, not sure how to reply. “Um… ‘itchen.”

Mike smiles. “Has Clara shown you the pool yet?”

Lauren nods in reply. “She- um, she teach.”

“She’s going to teach you how to swim?” Mike asks, and Lauren nods in reply. “That’s great. Then we can play marco polo.”

Not knowing what that is, Lauren just nods in response, and Clara beckons her down a hallway. Lauren notes that there’s no stairs in the house, which is good, because she’s not good at climbing stairs fast.

Clara opens up a door and shows her inside. “Mike and I sleep here. If you need anything in the night, you can come and wake one of us up.”

Lauren’s eyes widen at the thought. She was _never_ allowed to wake anyone up at her old house. They’d make her sleep outside if she did that.

Picking up on Lauren’s sudden mood change, Mike frowns at her. “What’s wrong, Lauren?”

“No wake,” Lauren stumbles over her words, “no ‘side. Don’t wanna.”

Clara hushes her. “If you need us, you can wake us up. Nothing bad will happen, Lauren. I promise.”

Lauren blinks up at her. “ _Pwomise?”_

“Promise,” Mike confirms. “Britt told us you have nightmares sometimes, so if you have one, I want you to come and wake one of us up. That’s the rule.”

At the word _rule_ , Lauren nods. If it’s the rule here to wake them up, then she has to, or she’ll get hit. “’kay.”

“Good girl.” Clara smiles at her, and Lauren stiffens at the words.

Nobody has ever, _ever_ , told her she’s good before.

It’s too much for her. She bursts into tears, but tries to stop crying immediately, because crying means the iron, and she doesn’t want to get burned. She’s _not_ allowed to be whiny.

She hears a loud _shhhhh_ , but it doesn’t make her stop. She sobs, flinching away when a hand touches her back, because she knows it’s going to roll up her shirt and burn her. But the burn never comes. Instead, someone is rubbing gentle circles into her back, and even though it’s confusing, it calms Lauren down.

When she stops crying, the hand goes away, and she opens her eyes to meet Clara’s for a moment. “What’s wrong, Lauren?”

“I- I _bad_ ,” Lauren tells her through sniffles, “you- you- _but_ , I _bad_.”

“No, no, Lauren,” Mike hushes her, “you’re not bad.”

Clara hums in agreement. “You’re _such_ a good little girl. You haven’t done anything wrong, okay? Would you like us to keep showing you the house, or do you need to sit down for a little while?”

Lauren wipes at her eyes, and thinks about the options. Not wanting to sit on the hard floor, she says, “’ouse.”

“Okay,” Clara nods, and beckons Lauren out of her and Mike’s bedroom. The next door opens to a room similar to Clara and Mike’s, but looks like nobody lives there. “This is our guest room. Sometimes my mom will stay in here during the holidays, like Christmas.”

After that, she leads Lauren down to the end of the hallway, and they stop in front of the last door.

“This,” Mike says as he pushes open the door, “is your room.”

The words are enough of a shock to Lauren. She gets her own _room_? But when he opens the door and Lauren peers inside, she nearly faints. The sheets on the bed are _The Lion King_ themed, but it doesn’t end there. The headboard of the bed has Simba ears, and Lauren is astounded just by looking at it.

On the back wall, there’s a painted mural of Simba, Mufasa, Timon, Pumbaa, and to Lauren’s absolute delight – _Nala._ The wardrobe on the opposite wall has paintings of the characters on it, and there’s a framed picture of Nala hanging by her bed. Sitting on top of the bed, on the pillows, is a Simba to match her Nala, and Lauren doesn’t understand why Mike and Clara are giving her so much.

Mike and Clara lead a stunned Lauren into the bathroom, and she’s thrilled to see a _Lion King_ shower curtain in there.

Lauren is shocked, and she doesn’t know what she’s done to deserve this. Her parents told her that she was a stupid, bad kid who shouldn’t have been born. Her parents said that she didn’t deserve anything, not her own room or _Lion King_ cups or a Nala. Her parents made her sleep in the scary basement, because that’s where scum like her belonged. Lauren had been told that everything her parents said was true.

Clara leads Lauren back into the room, and when Lauren stays unresponsive, gently helps her up onto the bed. It’s _so_ soft, and Lauren’s never felt anything quite like it. “Do you like your room, Lauren?”

Lauren wants to cry again, but she holds back her tears and bobs her head in reply. “Tank you. ‘ove it!”

“Come on,” Mike gestures towards the door, “we’re going to have whatever you want for dinner.”

Lauren blinks in surprise. They’re giving her dinner? But she’s already eaten today. She knows the people in the orphanage gave her dinner, but she thought it was different in a house.

On the way out of Lauren’s new room, the small girl spots Clara’s hand by her side. Cautiously, she tries holding it, worried that maybe Clara will hit out at her, but the woman just smiles and gives Lauren’s tiny hand a gentle squeeze.

-

Lauren is scared when she meets one of Clara’s friends for the first time.

When Sinu Cabello and her daughter Camila come over for dinner, Lauren isn’t sure how to react. Camila is her age, and the kids in the orphanage were hard to interact with, and Lauren just doesn’t know what to do.

She wants to hide in her bedroom, but she’s scared. She’s still settling in at the new house, and is nervous to ask for things, in case she gets hit. On her first night, she’d had a nightmare, but she hadn’t gone to Mike and Clara like they said, in case it was a trick. She likes her new comfy bed, and doesn’t want to sleep outside.

She hopes that maybe Camila won’t talk to her, but when the little girl spots her, she runs over with a wide smile on her face. “Hi! I’m Camila, what’s your name?”

Lauren gets flustered. “I- I, um…”

Luckily, Clara saves her from talking. “Camila, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Whatever Clara says to Camila, Lauren doesn’t hear, but after a few moments, Camila comes back over, still smiling. “Clara told me you’re called Lauren. Like I said, I’m Camila. Do you want to play?”

Lauren has never played with anyone before, so she shrugs. “Don’ know.”

“I’ll pretend you said yes,” Camila answers with a grin. “Can I see your bedroom? Clara said you moved in here. I bet you have a really cool room.”

At this, Lauren smiles, and toddles in the direction of her room, Camila following behind her. She opens up the door, and shows Camila how her bedroom has _The Lion King_ everywhere. When Camila spots her toys, however, Lauren shouts, “No!”

Camila looks at her in surprise. “You don’t want to play with your toys?”

“No touch Nala!” Lauren tells her, frustrated, “ _No!”_

Hearing the shouting, Clara comes in from the other room, and Lauren freezes, realising that she’s been bad. She cowers in the corner, shaking her head as Clara approaches. Camila watches her in confusion.

“No,” Lauren whimpers, “no hit, p’ease.”

“Lauren, I’ll never _ever_ hit you,” Clara kneels down in front of her, “I promise you that. But you can’t shout at Camila, okay? And I want you to say sorry.”

Lauren looks over at Camila, still scared. “ _Sowwy_.”

Camila just smiles. “It’s okay. If you don’t want me to touch your Nala, can I be Simba instead? We can play _Lion King_.”

Lauren looks over at the Simba plushie and nods. “’kay.”

Clara smiles down at her. “You’re such a good girl, Lauren. Thank you for apologising.”

Lauren shrugs, still a little frightened. “No hit?”

“Nobody will ever hit you here, Lauren,” Clara promises her, “ _Nobody_ , ever. I promise.”

Lauren nods in reply, finding it a little hard to believe, but she toddles over to Camila and picks up her Nala. She offers Simba to the younger girl, and Camila smiles and takes the toy.

They sit on Lauren’s bed, playing _Lion King_ , Camila doing funny voices for Simba, each one a little different than the last. They make Lauren laugh a lot, and Lauren decides she likes Camila.

“Lolo?” Camila says, and Lauren blinks in surprise at the nickname. “Clara said I can’t touch you, but I want to give you a kiss. Is that okay?”

Lauren frowns, not understanding why Camila would want to kiss her. She nods in response, wanting to see what will happen.

Nothing much does. Camila innocently presses her lips against Lauren’s, and the older girl touches them after, having quite enjoyed the sensation. She smiles, and looks up at a now quiet Camila.

“Was that okay?” Camila asks, and Lauren nods. Camila sighs in relief. “Good, ‘cause my best friend Dinah always makes fun of me and says that I’m going to suck at kissing, because one time Austin tried to kiss me and I ran away.”

Lauren hums in reply. “’kay. Was good.”

“Good,” Camila smiles, “because you should kiss people you like, and I didn’t like Austin, but I like you. Would you wanna be my girlfriend?”

Lauren shrugs. “’kay. More kiss?”

Camila gives her another innocent kiss, and Lauren giggles.

When Camila is called to go home, the younger girl runs up to her mom and says, “Mami, Lolo’s my girlfriend now, we’re gonna get married when we’re older! Right, Lolo?”

Lauren nods in reply, and both Clara and Sinu laugh fondly at the pair when Camila gives Lauren a clumsy kiss goodbye.

-

Lauren meets Angelica a month later.

One day, after Clara had given Lauren a grilled cheese for lunch, an elderly woman comes in through the front door. When she spots Lauren, she beams, and comes over to sit by her side.

Lauren scoots away, because she doesn’t know this woman, and she doesn’t like new people. She focuses on eating her grilled cheese, but a few minutes later, the woman speaks.

“So,” she says with a smile, “you’re my new granddaughter, are you?”

Lauren blinks. “Um… I- I Lauren.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Lauren,” the woman says, “I’m Angelica. You can call me that if you’d like, but if it’s easier, you can say _abuela._ ”

Lauren picks the latter option, because it’s shorter. “’buela.”

The woman lets out a small gasp, and Lauren backs away again. “Oh, you’re just _precious_. I’ll be staying over for a few days, because I want to spend some time with you.”

Clara walks back into the room from the kitchen, carrying juice in Lauren’s _Lion King_ cup. She sets it down in front of her, and then turns to Angelica. “She’s very shy around new people. She probably won’t-”

“C’ara,” Lauren mumbles, pointing to the lady, “dis ‘buela!”

“Oh, no, Lauren, you don’t have to call her that if you’re not comfortable with it,” Clara assures her, and Lauren frowns. Why wouldn’t she be comfortable with it? Clara, sensing her confusion, explains. “ _Abuela_ is grandmother in Spanish. But if you don’t want to call her that, you don’t have to. Like how you call me by my name.”

Lauren frowns, because she already knew that. She doesn’t mind calling Angelica her grandmother, but if this new lady is her grandmother, then does that make Clara her mom?

Lauren decides to ask, and points at Clara. “You mami?”

Clara looks at her with tears in her eyes, and Lauren worries – she hadn’t meant to make Clara cry. “Lauren- I- if you want to call me your mami, then you can.”

Lauren hums to herself, and then nods. “Mami. ‘ike- ike papi?”

“You can- you can call him that if you’d like,” Clara assures her, “but only if you’re okay with it.”

“’kay,” Lauren answers, going back to eating her grilled cheese. The conversation was getting quite boring. “’ove you, mami.”

Clara wipes at her eyes and kneels down to meet Lauren’s eyes. “I love you too, Lauren. Is it okay if I give you a hug?”

Lauren nods in reply, and squirms a little when Clara gives her a hug, but nestles her face into Clara’s shoulder for a few moments. After that, she gets uncomfortable, and wriggles away, finishing off her grilled cheese.

When she sees Clara’s smile, Lauren smiles, too. Because she thinks she finally has a family.


End file.
